The peasant girl has a private space, and her husband is handsome.

While Emperor Qi Jing was discussing countermeasures against the snow disaster with his ministers, more than a dozen cities sent important news that houses had collapsed and many people had been buried.

The atmosphere in the entire hall was extremely somber.

The young Emperor Jing of Qi felt he was a truly unlucky emperor, having been caught in a massive invasion by the northern barbarians, the rebellion of the Prince of Huainan, and a once-in-a-century snow disaster.

Two years ago, a locust plague occurred in the territory of Qi, and Emperor Jing of Qi felt that he was born with a constitution that attracted disasters.

Prime Minister Feng stepped forward and said, "I noticed the unusual weather long ago..."

Prime Minister Feng thought that the great calamity must be due to a certain jinx, and that jinx was, of course, his political enemy.

It could be that Miss Su from Qinghe County, or it could be one of his other political enemies.

This has always been the case: major natural disasters are often used as opportunities to strike back at political enemies, as long as they are labeled as jinxes.

Unfortunately, he was interrupted by Emperor Qi Jing before he could finish speaking.

Emperor Qi Jing was already in a bad mood, and upon hearing this, he immediately launched into a tirade, "You idiot! You noticed the abnormal weather long ago, why didn't you report it sooner? Why didn't you arrange for people to prepare for disaster earlier?"

At this time, Emperor Jing of Qi was grieving over the snow disaster and was in a very bad mood.

He glanced around but didn't see anything he could handle. If he had, he would have grabbed it and smashed it against Prime Minister Feng.

Hindsight is 20/20, they really deserve to be criticized!

Emperor Qi Jing snatched the whisk from Eunuch Fu's hand and smashed it onto Prime Minister Feng's hat.

Undeterred, Prime Minister Feng straightened his hat and continued, "Your Majesty, that young girl surnamed Su from Qinghe County is definitely a jinx. I heard she wasted precious resources, using a divine stone from outer space to make an iron pot. She must have offended Heaven because of that—"

Upon hearing this, Duke Anguo immediately sensed that something was terribly wrong. If Miss Su were labeled a jinx, her future would be bleak.

Everyone in the Duke of Anguo's mansion had received a great debt of gratitude from Miss Su, and they would never allow anyone to smear her or falsely accuse her.

"Your Majesty, Miss Su used a crossbow made from a divine stone from outer space to help the Great Qi defend Yinguan City. Miss Su is clearly a lucky star; Heaven has used Miss Su's hand to protect the Great Qi."

Minister Qin quickly stood up and echoed Duke Anguo's words.

"Your Majesty, I believe that what the Duke of Anguo said is extremely reasonable. Miss Su is clearly a lucky star sent by Heaven to save the Great Qi. If it weren't for Miss Su's help in keeping the Northern Barbarians at bay outside Yinguan City, they would probably have already invaded the heart of the Great Qi!"

Qin Changfeng, the grandson of the Minister of War, is still in Qinghe County. Moreover, it is said that the grandson has a close relationship with that Miss Su. If Miss Su is labeled as a jinx, his grandson may be implicated.

That's why I stood up to speak for Miss Su.

Emperor Qi Jing did not forget Miss Su's contributions; the letter commemorating the great victory at Yinguan City was still tucked away in his bosom.

He felt that the real jinx might be himself, because ever since he became emperor, the Great Qi had truly been plagued by disasters.

This Prime Minister Feng bites at everyone he sees. Next time, will he publicly accuse the emperor of being a jinx?

I really hate this guy surnamed Feng. Instead of trying to find a way to help with the disaster, he just keeps attacking others.

If it weren't for the fact that the Prime Minister's wife came from the Sikong family, one of the five great families, and if it weren't for the imperial edict left by the late emperor forbidding the easy replacement of the Prime Minister, he would have dismissed the man surnamed Feng long ago.

"You surnamed Feng, shut your mouth right now! If you dare to mention the word 'jinx' again, you will be suspended from your post and sent home, just like Vice Minister Luo, and will never be employed again."

Prime Minister Feng did not want to be suspended from his post and was unwilling, but he could only keep quiet.

He couldn't understand why the young emperor was so protective of the girl from Qinghe County! What benefit had he received from that girl?

Emperor Qi Jing took a deep breath to calm himself.

Outside the main hall, heavy snow was still falling, and it was unclear how long it would continue.

Emperor Jing of Qi knew that, as the emperor, his primary task now was to arrange disaster relief.

Disaster relief is a race against time, so the number of personnel is very important.

Unfortunately, the Imperial Guards of the capital were sent by him to support the northern border before the new year.

We have a limited number of available personnel at the moment.

"Duke Anguo, what's your opinion on this matter?"

Duke Anguo was not particularly talented and could not come up with a better way to relieve the disaster, but he was not stupid either, and he knew that this was an opportunity to show his loyalty.

"Your Majesty, after deducting the elderly, women, and children, I have about seventy servants left in my household. I am willing to lead these seventy servants to personally participate in the disaster relief efforts. In addition, I am willing to contribute three thousand taels of silver to hire the people of the city to participate in the disaster relief as well."

Emperor Qi Jing was very satisfied; what he wanted was for someone to take the lead and express their opinion.

There were hundreds of civil and military officials in the palace. If each of them brought their servants to personally go to the disaster relief, and also spent money to hire some other people, the total number of people would not be small.

"The Duke of Anguo speaks very well!"

When the ministers heard Emperor Jing of Qi praise Duke Anguo, they understood the emperor's intention and stepped forward to express their willingness to contribute money and effort to the disaster relief.

Prime Minister Feng felt this was a golden opportunity, one that would likely be lost for a long time. "Your Majesty," he said, "Minister Luo's household has many servants, and now is the time when manpower is most needed. I humbly request Your Majesty to reinstate Minister Luo to his original post!"

After all, Vice Minister Luo was of one mind with him, and if he didn't take advantage of the situation, his other followers would be disheartened.

Prime Minister Feng's faction was large, so when he proposed reinstating Vice Minister Luo to his original post, many people stood up and echoed Prime Minister Feng's words.

"Your Majesty, the court is in dire need of capable officials at this time. We humbly request that Your Majesty reinstate Vice Minister Luo to his original post."

"Your Majesty, disaster relief is the most important task at hand. We should recruit talented people regardless of their background."

Emperor Qi Jing thought the more manpower the better, so he agreed, since the mistake made by Vice Minister Luo was not serious enough to warrant dismissal.

"Minister Luo will be reinstated, but he still needs to be punished. Fine him a year's salary and use that money to help the disaster victims."

After being suspended from his post, Vice Minister Luo was very dejected. His beard grew longer and his hair turned whiter, making him look more than ten years older.

Upon suddenly learning the news of his reinstatement, Vice Minister Luo immediately perked up.

It's all thanks to Prime Minister Feng's help; he's decided that he must be even more of a cohesive team with Prime Minister Feng from now on.

Minister Luo combed his hair and beard neatly, then gathered his children, grandchildren, and servants together in one place.

"Minggeng, Mingfang, Mingxin, Mingzhen... all of you are coming with me to the outskirts of Beijing for disaster relief. Everyone in the family except the elderly servants is going to help with the rescue."

Luo Shilang thought to himself that if the disaster relief work was done well, His Majesty might pardon his eldest son Luo Kang's crime.

After all, the person Luo Kang killed was just a beggar.

No one ever cared about the beggar's life or death, except for the Ministry of Justice, which meddled and insisted on going up against the Luo family.

In previous years, many beggars froze and starved to death in the capital during winter, but no one seemed to care.

However, I heard that not many beggars died this year.

This year, Prime Minister Feng's youngest son's porridge distribution saved some beggars. Gu's Tea House, despite being so busy with business, still had time to distribute porridge to beggars!

Luo Minggeng had strong objections to Vice Minister Luo's arrangement. "Grandfather, this kind of thing can be done by servants. There's no need for me, the master, to go as well."

He didn't want to go; he'd heard it was to remote rural areas for disaster relief, and he was sure he'd suffer a lot there.

Looking at his disgruntled grandson, Vice Minister Luo couldn't help but envy other people's children.

"That young lady from Qinghe County can fight and do business to make money. Minggeng, you're still a boy. Why can a girl do it, but you, a grown man, can't? You have to go today. There's no room for negotiation."

As a younger member of the family, I dislike it most when elders say that I am not as good as so-and-so, and I hate being compared to other people's children.

Luo Minggeng originally had no connection with the Miss Su from Qinghe County, but after hearing his grandfather say this, he developed hostility towards her.

If it weren't for that girl surnamed Su who loved to show off, he wouldn't have been forced by his grandfather to go to the disaster relief effort today.

Since that girl is so capable, why don't you let her go to help with disaster relief?

Vice Minister Luo earnestly advised his grandson, "If our Luo family performs meritorious service in disaster relief, we may be rewarded by His Majesty. At that time, I will ask His Majesty to treat your father leniently."

Luo Minggeng curled his lip; he certainly didn't want his murderer father to be released.

Many of his childhood playmates distanced themselves from him because his father was a murderer.